FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – MEDIA RELEASE
 Country folk duo The McMenamins have been nominated in two categories – Country & Regional – at this year’s Queensland Music Awards (formerly QSong Awards) for their track Umbrella Town. The song, from their third long player Long Time Gone, has landed them in the finals alongside the likes of James Blundell and Roz Pappalardo.
The McMenamins need no introduction to Queensland audiences. The brother and sister duo – Simon and Fleur – are based in the Far North and have now scored themselves five nominations in the awards across their career. They won the 2007 ABC Regional QSong Award and were finalists in the 2008 Roots Category.
Umbrella Town was penned about Fleur’s now home town of Babinda in Far North Queensland, and has been garnering them acclaim around the country. There is something about the upbeat track that resonates with audiences. “It’s a little song about a small country town with a big heart, and I guess there are lots of those and a lot of people who know that story and can relate to it,” says Fleur McMenamin. “It also celebrates a sense of belonging and having a place you are proud to call your home.”
The McMenamins relocated to North Queensland, and it was during an afternoon preparing for a gig in Babinda that Fleur found the inspiration for Umbrella Town. “The story is all true,” she says. “When we first moved here, the weather was perfect for months and then it rained for what must have been a year. The postman beeps to let you know you have mail, and the ladies at the local grocery store actually will carry your groceries to your car if you let them. It is a magic little town with such a beautiful sense of community. I fell in love with it and thought it deserved a good old country song written about it. Not many people know it is about a real little sugar cane town in Far North Queensland.”
Since adding Umbrella Town to their album, they’ve performed it at Tamworth Country Music Festival, and to audiences around the country. The song was recorded and engineered by Nigel Pegrum in Cairns at Pegasus Studios. The brother and sister duo put the song together at Simon’s old Queenslander house, perfecting the arrangement and harmonies.
More awards are in sight for the duo as well. The song 63 Years, also from Long Time Gone, is in the Top 10 for its category of the Oz Song Awards and was in the Top 10 for the Show Me The Music Contest in Nashville. The McMenamins are now preparing for their first tour to the US in September and October and hope to be back in the studio recording their fourth album by the end of the 2012.
Long Time Gone is out now through MGM Distribution. The Queensland Music Awards will be announced at a ceremony held in Brisbane at the Old Museum on Tuesday 16th August 2011.
www.themacswebsite.com | http://www.qmusic.com.au/qldmusicawards/2011/
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